The Bloody Buttons
by Wormtail96
Summary: "Do you have you any idea...how crazy you are?"
1. Chapter One

**(A/N) Okay, now I'm sure a lot of you are asking why the hell I'm writing yet another Coraline fan fiction and you've got a point, I myself am half wondering why. Well, here's the thing, it is the second anniversary when the film came out so I guess I'm kind of writing it as a tribute to it. Second, I haven't written one in a while, though that is not as strong a reason. But the third and most important reason is that, well…I never really took the chance before to write a really serious and dark story for this film like I have done for other fandoms. I think both "Five is a crowd" and "Three years later" were the closest I ever got to being dark and serious in this fandom, but I don't think I went far enough with them than I could have.**

**Look, this story is going to be a fairly short one like with most likely less than ten chapters and pretty much to the point with little padding. It goes in a really different direction than I did with most of my other fanfics. Whilst they were more light-hearted, this one is more dark and gritty. Also, just in case many of you have noticed, I have deleted a lot of my older stories because even I didn't like them anymore and realised how completely out of context of the actual film a lot of them were. Yeah, so are most fan fictions, but some of my old ones really pushed it.**

**So yeah, that's why I'm writing this short story. It's probably going to be quite a bit controversial considering the subject matter and the directions it is going to go in. Well, make of it what you will, here's the first chapter.**

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**The Bloody Buttons**

**by Wormtail96**

**Chapter One**

_Ashland, Oregon, late one summer night…_

The air was suspiciously still that mild June night, with the ominous moon out full and neither a single cloud or faintest star visible in the pitch black sky. Most of the children had been tucked away in their beds to innocent slumber, and the city's nightclubs and bars were alive with the adult's debauchery and sin. Yet a while away from the glamour of the city, silence had engulfed one of the local parks, the witching hour there having arrived. The only noises that could be the slightest bit heard were that of the gentle creaking of the play equipment like the swing set and merry-go-round. Although at this time of night, you would expect the place to be deserted, there was still one person hanging around there.

Rudolph Vulmer was sat down on the park bench, a rolled up and cigarette, newly lit, in one hand and silver Zippo lighter in the other, both illuminated by the glow of the streetlight to his right, as well as his greasy and clammy gaunt face. Rings of tobacco smoke blew out from his lips that he formed into an O shape. He was dressed in a dark green zipped up jacket and black leather trousers and heavy black and white sneakers.

Rudy always snuck out on nights like these to have a smoke. He had worked out a route to get him out of from his bedroom and away from the house without causing a stir. He was only nine-years-old when he first started smoking and now three years later he could not get enough. You could say he had his chain-smoking older sister to thank for that.

Looking down at his wristwatch, Rudy frowned at seeing it was nearly 11 o'clock. Best to get back home for some sleep, he thought. So he decided he was going to finish the newly lit cigarette in his hand. Too bad he did not just say "screw it" and toss the damn thing away, for that just may have saved his life that night.

It was when he started to feel overbearing fatigue he was joined by a second party, out from the shadows surrounding the circles of light created by the street lights. A short figure, dressed in a light coat, hat and scarf as if to help hide their face. It caught his attention right away and at Rudy, after a moment, smiled in a greeting manner at this new arrival.

"Hey, what're you doing out here so late?" The person did not answer, but stared at him intently. He raised his lit cigarette to it and suggested, "Wanna smoke?" More silence. "Oh yeah, forgot, you don't touch the stuff, do ya?" When it did not respond to him for the third time, Rudy began to get annoyed. "Okay…you don't want to talk, that's fine with me."

It stepped forward and sat down on the bench next to him. Another period of silence followed between the two and Rudy just continued working on his cigarette. Finally, the figure braced itself and spoke quietly to him,

"_Please come with me. I have something…I want to show you."_

"I'm not sure, I really gotta get home."

Reaching out its and putting it on his shoulder, the wrapped up figure told him in a different tone, "It's something you'll _like."_

He grinned slyly; showing off his poorly looked after teeth and appeared to understand what it meant by the way it spoke. "Alright then." He pocketed his lighter and flicked his dying cigarette onto the ground. "Let's go."

They both got up from the bench and the mysterious arrival led the way away down the path of the park.

The figure took Rudy out of the park and towards the nearby woods, where the trees appeared tall enough to scrape the skies. Now a sharper person would stop and think, 'Hey, there's something suspicious going on here. Maybe I should stop". But the thing is, Rudy was not one of those sharper people and his preconceptions of what was going to happen to him clouded his vision.

Soon they were deep into the woods and approaching the orchard and cherry blossom trees. Rudy grinned at the scenery and leaned his back against the trees as the mysterious figure instructed him.

"Okay, let's do it."

Undoing its coat and pulling down its scarf, it said slowly, whispering into Rudy's ear, "Now close your eyes…"

His grin now reaching his ears, Rudy shut his heavy eyelids, opened up his mouth and outstretched his arms. "Come here…" With his eyes closed, he was unable to take notice of what it truly was pulling out of its coat. "And gimme what you know I want."

It had not a minute more to lose. It pulled the axe quite out, swung it with both arms, scarcely conscious of itself, and almost without effort, almost mechanically, brought the blunt side down on his head. But as soon as it had once brought the axe down, the object trembled violently in the figure's arms.

As Rudy was fairly the same height as the assailant, the blow fell on the front of his skull. He cried out, but very faintly and suddenly sank all of a heap on the ground, raising one hand to his head. Then the over standing figure batted the axe in its hands before dealing him another and another blow with the blunt side and on the same spot. The dark red blood gushed as from an overturned glass, the body fell back. The figure stepped back, let it fall, and at once bent over his face; Rudy was dead. His eyes seemed to be starting out of their sockets, the brow and the whole face were drawn and contorted convulsively.

The figure tugged down its scarf and grinned a bit, chuckling, "What's the matter, Rudy? Not what you axed for?"

Taking out a thick piece of cloth from its coat's pocket, the murderer wrapped it around the bloodied blunt side of the axe before placing the deadly instrument back into the fabric loop on the inside. Putting on a pair of gloves, the murdering got down on its knees and with greatest care to not get any blood itself and grudging force, lifted Rudy's hacked body up in its arms and into the depths of the forest, trudging through the layers of blossoms on the dry earth.

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It was the first Friday of the month, during a massive heat wave that was beating down on Ashland like a horsewhip. It had to be one of the hottest summers in the State's recorded history. The authorities recommended people only went out for the most critical reasons and school unfortunately was one of them.

The walls of the Pink Palace were alive with the reflected sunlight that morning, nearly blinding the paperboy when he made his route. The trees and grass that surrounded it had turned a dark green from the heat and flies were gathering in swarms around the house. You did not have to live there to tell just how uncomfortable this place was.

Sitting at her small wooden desk up in her dismal upstairs bedroom in her family's apartment of the house, Coraline Jones was writing with a black ink pen into what at first glance appeared to be a pink and flower decorated diary. She was dressed in her equally dismal grey school uniform, consisting of a white blouse, grey sweater and skirt, having got up, washed and dressed early so that she had enough spare time to write. She paused her writing once or twice and looked up at the cracked white ceiling in brief thought before continuing to scribble down whatever she had accumulated in her mind.

Setting the pen down and picking up one of a small number of photos that were slid in between the pages, Coraline looked at it with a certain fondness. After a moment, she picked up a glue stick situated on the table, rubbed against the back of the photo and carefully placed the latter onto the page beneath the text.

"_CORALINE! Get down here before you miss the bus!"_ her mother's shrill voice yelled from downstairs for the third time. The girl cringed at that unbearable sound and pushed back her chair and got up, slamming the pink book tight.

Pushing a lock of her dyed blue hair behind her, Coraline called back, "I'm coming, mom!" She quickly picked the book up and went over to her bed to slide it into her brown leather satchel, being careful to wedge it between her books and a plastic bag. Closing the satchel, she tossed it over her shoulder and walked out the room, slamming the door shut behind her. As she walked out onto the balcony, she cringed at the sound coming from downstairs of her parents yelling at each other.

Mel and Charlie Jones were going through a difficult time in their marriage. Things were not always perfect anyway, but lately the tension was running quite high, mostly over the workload from the gardening catalogues. There were other reasons as well, but those we will not go into too much depth here. Coraline hated having to listen to them fight, especially how the normally empty threats they exchanged now sounded more and more serious per fight.

_"You never do anything to help! Yeah, I make mistakes, but what do you do? Just put me down! You just complain and never try to make things any better!"_

_"Oh, why don't you just stop whining like a little bitch for once, huh? Maybe that'll help! God, you know what? Forget it! Mother was right; I should've married that dentist!"_

_"Well guess whose fault that was, sister! Yours, not mine!"_

_"Screw you, Charlie!"_

By the time Coraline reached the bottom of the stairs, Charlie had returned to his private study, locking the door behind him. Closing her eyes and sighing heavily, she walked through the hallway and into the kitchen where her mother was sitting down at the table.

Mel Jones placed one elbow on the table and rested her face in her palm, rings thick around her pale tired and frustrated face. She was stirring a spoon through her cup of coffee, which she had actually not touched all morning. The poor woman looked positively miserable, even though she tried to up this hard front to those around her.

Not wanting to say or do anything that will only aggravate her mother, Coraline fumbled with her fingers and made her way over to the back door, saying quietly, "I…I'm going to school now, Mom…okay?" She put her hand on the door handle when her mother's sharp tongue stopped her in place.

"What were you doing?" Coraline cringed and looked back at her mother, who was now standing up with her arms crossed and glaring angrily at her. "I was calling you down for breakfast for the last twenty minutes and you're nearly late for the bus!"

"I was busy, Mom." Coraline sighed tiredly, knowing she was in for an earful.

Mel's scowl did not falter. "I don't care if you were "busy", young lady, because if I call you downstairs, you come down, do you understand?" She was doing this a lot as of late. The more she and Charlie argued with each other, the more Mel would take her frustrations out on her only daughter. Actually, to be truthful, this was nothing new. She used to do berate and chastise Coraline was the latter was as young as six when things were going really bad, and at worst it included slapping her repeatedly.

Coraline bit her lip crossly and pouted, placing her hand back on the handle. "Okay, fine, can I actually go to school now? I've got a busy day."

"Don't you backtalk me, Coraline!" Mel half-shouted, her temper spiking and stomped forward to the blue-haired child. "You think _you_ have a busy day, when I'm the one working my fingers to the bone so you should shove food in your ungrateful little mouth!" This was a common tactic; the guilt trip. "I am your mother, and you are going to start…" she paused and focused her hawk eyes on her, specifically her uniform. "Wait a minute…" Mel grabbed her daughter's skirt and tugged it towards her, examining it carefully. "What did you do to your skirt?"

The grey skirt had a significant tear at the bottom of it. You wouldn't notice it at first, but upon further inspection the damage became clear. Coraline got on the defensive and looked away, crossing her own arms and groaned, "It's nothing, okay? It must have got caught on a tree branch or bush on the way home."

But Mel however was positively livid and let the skirt go and snapped, putting her hands on her hips, "God damn it, Coraline, I can't keep buying you new clothes every month!"

Now Coraline was getting fed up with her mother's attitude and she snapped back, "Hey, it's not my fault these clothes are so cheap they get so easily ruined! Maybe if you stop buying me discount _crap_-"

She did not get to finish as her mother grabbed her roughly and abruptly by the arm and slapped her hard around the head, making her yelp out in pain and put her hand to the inflicted area.

Mel next grabbed Coraline's chin and leaned in with smouldering eyes. She hissed venomously like a cobra, "Now you listen to me, Coraline Jones. I already have enough on my plate today without you acting like a spoiled little brat! Now you are going to go school and give me seven hours rest and if get _one _phone call today about you getting in anymore trouble, then believe me, you _will_ be sorry!" She pulled her in close enough so that their pointed noses touched. "Do you understand me?"

Feeling genuinely intimidated by her mother at that moment, Coraline tried to look away and muttered a muted, "Okay."

"What!"

"Okay!" Coraline repeated fairly loudly this time, her eyes turning misty but she squeezed them tight to not let her mother see them.

Mel did not say another word, having made her point. Instead she patted her hands down her daughter's head and shoulder as if beating out dust, opened the door and forced her out, and slammed it shut behind her.

Now outside on the porch and away from her mother, Coraline sniffed and wiped the tears from her face. She stepped off the porch and walk down the dirt pathway away from the Pink Palace in the glaring heat.

She hated her. You might say she was being overemotional or that she was just upset, but Coraline was certain that she actually hated her mother. Do keep in mind just how strong the term 'hate' was, because it carries _a lot _of weight. How could she treat her own daughter so horribly? Coraline knew for fact that as soon as her mother slammed that door, not the slightest flicker of remorse or regret ran through her mind and would not have given a damn if she heard the faint sound of her child crying outside. She was nothing but a selfish bitch - as Coraline herself put it - who neither cared for nor loved her own flesh and blood daughter. But then again, she had known that for years now

Soon, Coraline reached the road down the path and walked along the side up to the bus stop. Waiting there for her was none other than her neighbour and 'friend' in the loosest of terms, the hunched and banana slug hunting Wybourne "Wybie" Lovat.

Wybie was rummaging through his tacky and disorganised backpack, frantically checking as he always did if he had all the right text books, homework and equipment for the day. It was one of his many peculiar habits.

He looked up to see Coraline approaching him and said, still going through his bag, "Oh…hey Jonesy!" When she did not respond and instead crossed her arms and looked grumpily out onto the road, he stood up and spoke again, "Uh, Jonsey? …are you feeling okay? Hellooo?"

"Shut up, Wybie, you hear me? Just SHUT UP!" Coraline whirled around and practically screamed at him, making him take several steps back in fear.

"Okay, okay! S-sorry!" Wybie apologized timidly, appearing to physically shrink before her.

She looked away from him and back to the road. "Let's just go to school and get this week over with!" And with that, she did not say another word to him for the next four minutes until the bus arrived and the whole journey to school.

Wybie did not want to trigger another outburst from her and mentally judging that she was in a very bad mood that morning, did not say another word either.

Finally, the bus did arrive and picked the two up for what was supposed to be the final hurdle before a two day rest. However, for one of them, the day was going to end quite badly and that itself is an understatement.

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**(A/N) Okay, so that's chapter one. Oh, and for those followers who want to know when the next "King Grendel" chapter will be up, I'm currently going through a writer's block with it. I'm working on it, yes, but it's going to take a while. This story here is also a way of balancing out the genre's so I don't get bored with just one story. So yeah, please do Read and Review!**


	2. Chapter Two

**(A/N) Okay, everyone, here's the next chapter and trust me, a lot of shit goes down here. Just saying. Also, I must warn you right now that this chapter gets seriously gritty towards the end. I'm debating whether to put this story on M, but then again, what I and other people judge as truly M-rated varies. Just tell me what you think, along with what you think of the rest of the chapter.**

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**The Bloody Buttons**

**Chapter Two**

Coraline's day at school went along as it usually did; a fucking bore.

She made it clear before she even started the place that she hated it. Overall, it wasn't a _bad_ school as there were some honestly terrible schools out there, the real problem was just how zapped of any livelihood and joy the place was. The classrooms, hallways and the students' uniforms were probably coloured the very same drab and depressing grey; it was like stepping into a prison. The structure of the school itself was that of a gothic Victorian style you would see out of a horror movie, only distorted by some modern day extensions, so it was a very old one, maybe older than the Pink Palace. You give one look at it and only one comes to mind: unpleasantness.

There was also one other thing about the place that really grinded Coraline's gears: the pupils. The makeup of the student body was staunchly polarized into two groups. The first group which made up the vast majority were the 'broken' students, those whose spirits had been broken long ago and were essentially zombies trudging down the hallways with their heads hung low and limbs hanging by the threads. The second group in the minority were the students whose spirits were not broken, but had the slight problem of being obnoxious brats who liked nothing better than to terrorize the others and assert their dominance like wild animals. It was sort of like a lambs and tigers situation and Coraline had to force herself into the latter as she was sure as hell she was no lamb and that no one was going to treat her as one.

First of all that day, she had Art, which was followed by English, both of which were tolerable, although Art was severely limited to the curriculum approved styles. Next was a very brief recess where there was little to do but play hopscotch. Followed by that was a long and tedious Math lesson, followed by the slightly more uplifting Drama class.

Finally, lunch came, and Coraline and Wybie sat down together at the beginning of lunch in the barren playground, each with a hard crust sandwich roll in their hands. Neither had spoken to the other since that morning at the bus stop, and the feeling between the two was quite uncomfortable.

"Rudy hasn't shown up today."

"Ask me if I care."

Another strenuous moment of silence.

"So Jonsey…are you feeling any better now?" Wybie asked her tentatively, strenuously biting at the chewed end of his cheese and cucumber roll.

"No." she replied flatly, eating her own turkey meat roll.

"But what's the matter? Look, i-if it's something I did, I'm sorry, okay?"

Coraline put one hand against the bench and looked up at the burning, white orb in the sky and said, "It's nothing to do with you, Wybie. It's just my mom…she's being a total bitch. Even more so than usual."

"Well that sucks."

"Totally."

"I wonder what she's so upset about."

She bent over the bench and sighed but kept her deep frown. "It's my mom, Wybie, it's not like she actually needs a reason." She put both arms on her knees and her hard expression seemed to soften a bit. "But if she does, I think it's because she and Dad are having problems."

"Oh." Wybie did not need to press on about that, for he of all people knew what that particular phrase meant. "Sorry."

Coraline continued sounding tired, "It's that and…it's just the time of year again. Everyone at home gets upset 'round this time of year." Wybie looked at her, having absolutely no idea what she was talking about. She this and realized, "Oh, sorry, I…I never told you, did I?" He just shook his head, his curiosity only growing. "I thought I did."

"Well…I guess you didn't."

She hopped off the bench and walked off, telling him, "Come with me, Wybie." Wybie quickly at the rest of his roll and followed after her hesitantly. "I have something I wanna show you."

Both of them walked back into the main body of the school into the hallway where the lockers were situated. Coraline took Wybie to hers which was lost in the sea of them and undid the lock and opened the metal door only slightly to take something out between her multi-colour gloved fingers and handed it to him.

"Here."

The hunched over boy looked down at the object caught between his stubby fingers. It was a photograph, one that looked well taken care off despite its date that remained in the corner. It was of a little boy, only about two or three-years-old, with black shining hair and pointed nose and smiling cheerfully.

"Who's-"

"That's my little brother, Eddy."

"I-I didn't even know you have a little brother."

Coraline quickly snatched it back and replied stonily, "He _died."_

Wybie instantly felt ashamed and held his hands together. "Oh…I'm sorry. How...I mean, what happened?"

She said, staring at the photograph with an empty but intent look, "He drowned in the bathtub, five years ago next Tuesday." She placed the photo back into the locker and slammed it shut and stood there facing it. "Poor bastard. Mom and Dad I don't think ever really got over it and they probably blame each other for it."

"I'm really sorry, Coraline…I had no idea." He reached out his hand as if he was going to put it on her shoulder, but she just shrugged him off. He paused once more, before asking, "Do you miss him?"

The blue-haired child sighed heavily and re-did the lock and grabbed hold of the handle of her brown satchel, "I don't know, am I supposed to? I was only like six or something when he died, so I didn't really know him. Quite honestly, I don't know about a lot of things lately." Coraline turned around and started walking off. "I'm gonna go have a cigarette. See ya later, Wybie."

Now left alone in the empty hallway, Wybie just stood there and watched her leave, his facial expression looking like that of awe and confusion. "Yeah…see ya, Coraline."

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Like almost every other 'tiger' in the school, Coraline did her fair share of smoking. She had started only last year back in Pontiac, Michigan, being encouraged by her old friends there. The first time was rough, but after the second or third it got easier to enjoy. Nowadays, she did her best to limit the number of cigarettes to one or two a week and keep it secret from her parents, who she knew would gut her like a trout if they found out. However, unlike most others who smoked in the school, she did not brag about it and actually her best to keep it secret from most others except her best friends, going on about how they give people cancer and such.

In the girls' bathroom was where all the girls smoked their 'cancer sticks' and spread their vicious spiteful gossip about each other. Coraline herself was standing in one of the grey cubicles, having lit the cigarette with a match, both which she had taken from her satchel. She leaned against the clean wall, starring at the one in front of her which was defiled with chewing gum and hundreds of etchings of vulgarities targeting individual students.

She took the cigarette from her mouth and put it out against the cubicle wall and blew the last of the smoke through her pierced lips. She tossed it into the toilet and pulled the chain, disposing of the evidence and was about to walk out when she stopped upon hearing the bathroom door open and two familiar voices talking to each other.

"_That showed that fucking whore!"_

"_You didn't have to break her nose, Britney!"  
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"_Shut your face, or I'll kick the crap out of you, too!"_

Coraline recognised them both immediately and frowned irritably as if to say, _'oh, fuck my life'._ Opening the door ajar, she peered at the two figures standing there by the sinks with their backs facing her.

The first was a large and very overweight African American girl with skin that looked tightly stretched over her body, chocolate eyes and maroon hair tied up into two long pigtails. Standing next to her was a second thinner but still relatively overweight Polish American girl with glassy blue eyes, sickly pale skin and black hair done up in a similar fashion to Coraline's but slightly longer. Both were dressed in the standard grey uniforms, both of which looked like they had in no way been looked after since the day they were bought. It was Britney Donovan and Lidka Jankowski, the two former 'big girls on campus' before Coraline came to the school and beat the hell out of Britney on the former's first day. Ever since, Coraline and the two shared a burning hot animosity.

Pulling open the creaking door, Coraline stepped out from the cubicle and walked down pass the aisle of them and caught the two girls' attention, making them turn around.

Britney smirked like the obnoxious brat she was and put her hands on her hips. "Well, well, well, look who it is, Lidka."

"It's Pontiac's backstreet bitch." Lidka remarked unintelligently, that being the best she could muster from rubbing her two brain cells together.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"Off to plough your mom!" Coraline retorted plainly to Britney, approaching them.

"Show's what you know. My mom's been getting ploughed by her new boyfriend for the last sixth months!"

"Yeah, it's called 'sarcasm', genius, now outta my way." She was about to walk past them towards the door of the bathroom, but the two stood in her way before she could get anywhere close.

"Hold on a minute there, Jones." Having been born in the rough parts of Warsaw and moved to America when she was five, Lidka maintained a light Polish accent. "We're not finished here." Britney next to her lifted her own large paws and cracked them loudly.

Coraline stopped and stared at the two first in silence for a moment, but a smile appeared on her face and told them, "Oh. Oh, is this really happening? Look, I haven't been having such a good day so far, so both you inbred retards get the hell outta my way before I _really_ think about fucking you up."

Britney shoved Coraline in the shoulder and laughed, "Aww, what's the matter, _Caroline?_ Is Mommy smacking you up like a little _bitch_ again?"

"Something like that."

"'Cause your mom sure looks like one. Tell me, what doggie treats does she eat?"

She forced herself to laugh. "Really? Because your mom looks like she came out of the red light district! Why, just the other day, I heard my dad talking about how she'd get on her fat back for a ten-year-old if he paid her five bucks!"

_Thump!_ Britney and Lidka shoved Coraline hard into the outside wall of the cubicle.

"You scrawny little fucker!" Britney spat at her and grabbed her roughly by the grey sweater. "I outta rip that dykie blue hair off and shove it down your throat!"

"Try it, Fatso!" Coraline narrowed her eyes and looked right into her adversary's. "But oh yeah, that's right, you won't! Because all you and the Pollack there are too busy thinking about is shoving fried chicken and Kool-Aid in your faces, right after you get back from the fucking Hood!" To finish off, she spat in Britney's face.

"Oh, you are _DEAD!"_

Both Britney and Lidka grabbed Coraline and forced her back against the cubicle wall, despite her struggles to break out of their rough grasp. Britney clamped her giant grasping hands around Coraline's tiny throat and started squeezing, cutting off her air circulation. Feeling her legs still freed, she shoved both knees right up into Britney's stomach, making her yell and let go of her neck. Freed, Coraline turned on Lidka and delivered a fast uppercut to the Polish girl's nose, making her step back. Lidka grabbed her nose and started to cry like a big baby, much to the blue haired child's revulsion.

Coraline could not give a damn whether she got in trouble with the school or her mother, all she could think about was kicking the ever loving crap out of the fat bitch standing in front of her. Taking off her satchel and dropping it on the floor tiles, Coraline screamed and jumped Britney. The two landed on the ground, punching and scratching each other like a couple of wild cats and rolling about on the floor tiles.

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Outside, the Headmistress Catherine Morton was walking down the hallway. She was a tall, stony-faced blonde woman who had an air of discipline and firm authority, and looked strong and physically fit enough to kick the ever-loving crap out of any man. Then again, she _was_ in the marines in her more spry years. She stopped upon hearing the sound of yelling and crashing coming from one of the nearby girls' bathrooms.

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Back inside said girls' bathroom, Coraline was now on top of Britney and punching her viciously in the face again and again, whilst the latter was desperately punching Coraline in the side. Lidka was still bawling over her punched nose, which was now bleeding and she put her hands over it and the blood slowly flowed between her fingers.

Suddenly, the door flew open with the force of a whirlwind and all three girls stopped what they were doing and looked to see the Headmistress standing there furiously with eyes flickering like two burning coals. The three girls looked like they were afraid that she might lunge out and attack someone at any moment.

"What the Hell is going on?" She bellowed like thunder and immediately pointed at Britney and Coraline on the floor. "Break it up, both of you! **NOW!" **The two got off each other, Coraline walking back up against the wall near to the hand dryer and Britney up along the floor tiles to the sinks.

"Hey, she started it!" Britney protested, pointing at Coraline.

"Shut up!"

"_Fuck you!"_

All eyes turned on Coraline, who stood there with a deep scowl, fists clenched and breathing in and out slowly and loudly. No one had ever talked back to the feared Headmistress like that before, no one had the guts. The Headmistress herself even looked shocked for a moment, right before she furrowed her brows and asked her darkly, "What did you just say to me, Coraline Jones?"

Coraline's anger did not falter in front of the Headmistress and she breathed in through her nose before hissing, "I said _'Fuck-you'!"_ Before she knew what hit her, Coraline found the domineering woman's claws grabbing her by the collar and dragging her roughly across and out the girls' bathroom.

"Come with me!"

"My bag!"

"Grab it!"

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The Head Mistress took Coraline all the way to outside her office at the other end of the school. She ordered her to sit down on the soft bench just by the polished burgundy door with the Headmistresses' name and title engraved on a plaque on the front. She also took the brown satchel away from the girl and went inside the office with it, leaving her alone in the quiet hallway. From the looks of it, Coraline guessed she was going to miss the rest of lunch and even the final class, P.E. and that was quite the accurate guess. She was there for God knows how long.

Coraline's previous anger had left her entirely and in its place was a growing fear. She knew what was going to happen now. The Headmistress was going to call her mother down to the school to tell her what she did and that would result in a night of Hell for her. It would not be farfetched to assume Mel would hold her down and beat her for hours on end. Honestly though, Coraline should have seen it coming when she fought Britney, but when you are that angry, your sense of rational thought is clouded.

Half an hour later, the Headmistress reappeared and quickly gave the satchel back to her before recoiling back into the office. Looking back inside, Coraline's eyes widened and the colour drained from her skin. She had taken them out of the bag and now had them in her possession. Whatever fear Coraline had of Mel beating her up was replaced by the fear of what would happen now that the Headmistress and consequently later Mel had found out what she had been hiding in her satchel.

Soon enough, Mel Jones arrived at the school, her cheeks flush and her nails digging hard into the skin of her palms. Coraline pulled up her legs, wrapped her arms around them and buried her face into her knees so she did not have to look at her mother. Although she certainly feel her mother storm past the bench where she was sitting and slam the office door behind her.

"Again? Again? God's sake, what is it with you and this school?"

"Look, Mrs Jones…I do NOT enjoy calling you down here every five minutes when your daughter decides to act up!"

"Really? Because it sure seems like you do!" Mel retorted, who was standing in between her own chair and the dark polished desk that the Headmistress was sitting behind. "It's not my fault the other kids here like Donovan are little bastards. What, can't you get control of this school, principle?"

"Oh, believe me, I CAN control this school, I've been doing so for the last nine years!" The Headmistress leaned back in her chair and sighed and rubbed her fingers against her head. She looked tired and worn for a moment. She then told Mel, "But there's…there's something you gotta know, and it's not about what happened between your kid and Donovan. He should be here any minute now so just sit down and-"

Just then, the office door opened up and a man walked in, catching the two women's attention.

He was a tall, remarkably thin and slender man of Japanese ancestry and dressed in a three-quarter-inch long jacket and a pair of trousers that both at first site appeared black but upon further inspection were just a very dark blue and a buttoned maroon shirt. His long, chiselled face was riddled with stubble, so he was in need of a shave and his black hair was slightly unkempt stuck up a bit.

"Good, I was beginning to wonder you weren't coming." The Headmistress said to the new arrival, while Mel just stood there looking baffled.

"Hello, Catherine, how are you?" He said to her in deep and almost monotone voice, not seeming to acknowledge Mel's existence until his long dark gaze created by his sunken in eyes fell upon her. "Is this her mother?"

"Yes, she is." The Headmistress looked back at Mel and informed her, "Mrs Jones, this is Dr Richard Soseki. I called him in. He's a child psychologist and-" She stopped in midsentence when Soseki held up his hand and shook his head slightly.

Mel looked at him doubtfully. "A psychologist?"

Soseki placed his long bony fingers together and asked Mel gingerly, but maintained a consistent calm, stoic composure, "Mrs Jones, I understand that this is a rather personal question and you may be uncomfortable being asked this, but I need you tell me, has your daughter-is it Caroline?"

"Coraline."

"Coraline, yes, Coraline…has she ever undergone any psychiatric evaluation or testing?"

Now Mel just looked offended. "Okay, that's it, I've had enough. I don't do not need this today, I've got to go." She was indeed about to leave the office when Dr Soseki put both hands up and blocked her path.

"I know that this is perhaps one of the last things you wanted to hear today, Mrs Jones, I have kids myself." He told her more firmly, making her stop in place. "But this is only for what is best for the child, not you or me. Don't take any of it as an attack on you." He motioned to the chair behind her. "Now please, sit down."

She reluctantly sat down in the chair with a heavy sigh and Dr Soseki occupied the one next to her. He looked over at the Headmistress and asked her, "Do you have them with you?"

The Headmistress nodded and then said to Mel as opened one of her desk drawers. "Mrs Jones…we found _this…" _She took something out and placed it on the table. "…in your daughter's locker last week."

It was a plastic bag and what was inside looked like a large feather duster. But upon further inspection it was actually an animal. A dead crow that from the many gashes on its person. It had been beaten to death, most likely with a blunt object.

Mel's eyes widened at the sight in front of her on the desk and she was about to, or at least try to say something when the Headmistress continued, taking something else out from the drawer, "And we found _this_ in her satchel today after I brought her to the office." She set another plastic bag on the desk and inside this one was the remains of a white and brown spotted puppy. From the looks of it, it had been strangled to death.

"Wha-oh, oh come on. So she found a couple of dead animals. K-kids find…dead things all the time."

"If that were only the case, Mrs Jones, I wouldn't be here." Soseki then asked the Headmistress as if to completely dismiss Mel's argument, "Do you also have the pictures you faxed me?"

She closed the first drawer, opened up a second and took a third object out and handed it to Soseki. It was a pink and flower decorated book, the exact same one Coraline had been writing and gluing things into that morning.

Mel recognized the book immediately. "Wai-wait a minute, why do you have that? That's her diary."

"Like Hell it is." The Headmistress replied simply as Soseki opened it up and turned through a few pages and examined each calmly.

He found a particular page and handed the open book to Mel, telling her, "I warn you, Mrs Jones, these pictures get quite graphic."

Mel looked down at the pages and as she turned each one, a look of absolute horror crept up on her face. Each page was not covered with Coraline's personal entries, but instead with glued down pictures of more animals that had been brutally murdered in various ways; some strangled, some having their heads and bodies cracked in and some that looked drenched, suggesting they had been drowned. They ranged from the smallest chick to the size of a full grown dog. No animal was spared. Above or under each picture was the name of the animal, both species and given name and the dates of their deaths. Also, surrounding some of the pictures were some of the most vulgar profanities a parent could ever expect from an eleven-year-old, even in these modern times.

All Mel could possibly say in response to this was a quiet, "Oh my God!" She looked at them both incredulously. "C-Coraline did this?"

Soseki reached out his and tapped his finger on the date of one page. "You see here that this one was done a few years ago. The whole book dates back several, meaning all this has been going on from a very young age, starting around five when you were still living in Michigan if I'm right." He then turned a couple of pages to one of a dead rabbit that had neck broken and head bashed in and tapped his finger on the name stated beneath it:_ 'Ralphie'._

"Does this rabbit bare any significance to you?"

She narrowed her eyes on the battered creature and soon recognised it. "That's…that's Coraline's pet rabbit she had back in Pontiac when she was seven. W-we thought the neighbour's dog killed it one morning, but-"

He flipped a few paged back to one of a small light grey hamster lying down on a bed of wood chips with its eyes half open. The name of this animal according to the text above the picture was _'Speedy'._

"And this one?"

"That's the hamster gave her when she was six. We thought it died because it was just old."

"The marks around its neck tell a different story."

Soseki then moved a chunk of pages forward to take Mel near to the end of the book and the most recent entries. "It gets even more worrying when you look at these, taken recently over the last couple of weeks, according to the dates. See here…"

The recent entries pictures' were more close-up than the others, specifically around the eyes. What made these entries stand out from the rest was one chilling thing; every one of them did not have eyes. Actually, yes they did, but you could not see them. Buttons, of all different shapes, colours and sizes appeared to have been sewn into their eyes, with blood trickling down their furry or feathered faces. It looked like something not even Tim Burton could pluck from _his_ own twisted mind.

"Buttons." He concluded simply.

Mel wiped the sweat forming on her forehead away and asked Soseki with great concern, "Why…why would Coraline do this? Sh-she loves animals!"

Dr Soseki placed his hand to his chin and closed his eyes in thought as he sat back in his chair. After a moment, he opened his eyes and explained to Mel calmly, "Mrs Jones…it's been strongly evidenced that the desire to and thrill of causing pain or at worst killing smaller, less powerful creatures, i.e. animals…it serves as a bad sign. A warning, in other words."

"A warning for what?"

"For much bigger and serious problems."

* * *

Outside, Coraline sat on the edge of her seat, leaning her head towards the door. She was listening in on the entire thing and by now her gloved hands tightened around her knees. Her breathing jumped up its rate and her lips trembled now and then. Her facial expression was near unreadable. She swivelled around on her seat and stood up and stayed there for a while, the sound of her breathing the only thing that could be heard in the otherwise dead silent hallway.

Finally, the blue-haired girl's blank expression turned hard and her fingers curled up into tight small fists and her slow drawing breath rattled against her teeth. She turned around and walked off done the hallway, her sneakers not making the slightest creak and her breathing rolling up and down the walls.

* * *

A minute or two later, the school bell rang and the students slowly emerged in their swarms from the many exists of the building. Wybourne came out wondering where Coraline was after her absence from P.E., but everyone whom he asked where she was replied that they had not seen her since the fourth period. He finally gave up when he had to catch the bus seconds before it was scheduled to leave.

Meanwhile, Britney and Lidka burst out the double, the first burning red with fury and the second still sniffling like a baby over her broken nose.

"I've got another goddamn detention!" Britney exclaimed in annoyance, stomping down the doorsteps and holding a grumbled pink slip in her hands. "One more and I freakin' get suspended! The next time I see Jones, I don't give a damn anymore, I'm gonna _kill_ her!" She looked back at the snivelling girl behind her. "Will you stop crying?"

"But I think it might be permanent." Lidka whined nasally, holding the bundle of reddened tissue to the inflicted area.

"Oh, grow up!" Britney shoved the slip into her pocket and stormed off, leaving Lidka alone on the steps. She didn't take the bus. "You go ahead and stay here and cry like a pussy, I'm going home!"

Britney was of course oblivious to that someone was watching her leave the distance from a short distance away, hiding behind the old oak tree and holding something tight in its grip. And it kept its eyes on her until she was some length from the school until taking its pursuit.

* * *

Britney always took a short way back home through an isolated wooden area right next to the school. Because she lived relatively close to the school, it made taking the bus redundant. Not like she envied the poor guys on the bus, all cramped together and being consumed by the heat created by the mass number of people and no air conditioning.

She could not help but feel that during this walk home that she was being followed. Every ten paced or so she stopped and took a brief glance at her surroundings, like she knew someone was there and she was desperately trying to catch him or her out like in a playground game. Finally, she decided that the only way to shake off her suspicious was to just pick up the pace and make her way back to the crap-hole she lived earlier than she normally did. Better safe than sorry, as many say.

Unfortunately for her, this proved a fatal error as she did not get chance to see the driver club pop out from the tree and smash against her knee.

_**Crack!**_

Britney shrieked and fell forward on her stomach on the dirt ground, the burning hot pain running up and down her leg.

"_You!"_ It snarled ferociously.

Britney clenched her teeth, put both hands on the ground and attempted to hoist herself up, but it brought the driver golf club down on the girl's back. She yelled again and dropped to the earth once more.

She turned on her side and got a chance to look up at her attacker. "You!" She forced herself onto her heavy back and seethed at it angrily. "You are so fucking dea-!"

_**Crack!**_

"**Aaagghh!"**

The attacker smashed the club down against her shoulder, creating a few cracking and crunching sounds and making Britney scream out in pain.

"_SHUT UP! Just shut the fuck up, you stupid cow!" _It roared like the ferocious animal it was and lifted the club and mercilessly bludgeoned Britney with it on the head, stomach and just about everywhere else on her upper abdomen. Every time the fat bitch tried to crawl away, it took a swing at her legs to keep her in place.

_**Pow! Crack! Crunch! Smash!**_

"_Do you know what you've done? You've RUINED EVERYTHING!"_

After the sixteenth or seventeenth strike, it stopped and examined its work so far. Britney was sprawling on the dirt like a snake, her whole body decorated in large black and blue bruises and weeping gashes. Her face in particular had taken the most damage, making Lidka's injury look like a mere nosebleed compared to this. She partially curled up, sobbing loudly from the agonizing pain.

"Please! Please don't…! I'm sorry…!" Britney was crying convulsively, tears drenching her face and mixing the blood and the dirt. She was on her back and flailing her arms like an overgrown obese baby. "Don't hurt me! I'm sorry…I'm sorry…"

It looked down at her in disgust and remarked, letting the now completely banged up driver dangle loosely in its fingers, _"You know, Britney, when people are about to die, they have a tendency to show their pure true colours. With you, puh…you're no different from the day I met you. A big, fat cry baby. You REALLY make me wanna throw up. But let's try the right motivation, shall we?"_ It took something from off its shoulder; a short but thick piece of rope.

It swung the club one more time, this time striking Britney in the ribs and making her turn over on her belly. It walked over and sat down on top of her back. It dropped the rope over Britney's bloodied and battered head and jolted suddenly backward and rammed both its knees against the back of the Britney's shoulders and pulled back on the rope with possibly enough strength to rip the rope in two.

"Get off! Get ouffa me! Get off!"

They tugged and pulled and wrestled on the dirt ground. Britney tried desperately to pull out her hands and get them inside the rope but the knees on her shoulders prevented that. It knelt down on her back steeply leaning backward and kept its face averted. Britney was jostling wildly, trying like a tied up animal to break free of its bonds, kicking her porky legs up and down hard on the ground, scattering dirt. It was a pointless struggle. She was gurgling and bleeding from all corners of her mouth, practically drowning in her own blood. Its grip on the rope and her neck did not weaken for one second. Unable to take the pressure any longer, the right carotid artery in Britney's neck burst and a jet of blood shot across the earth in front of her like a back garden water sprinkler. It tried its best to try and aim the spurts in the opposite direction from it. Her legs stopped kicking and dropped motionless in the first and her large mass of a body remained twitching and jerking, like a pig after it had just been killed, before ceasing altogether. It at last let go of its grip on the rope and let it and Britney's head drop with a thud to the ground.

It sat there on the body for a moment, before carefully hauling itself up and putting its hands on its knees to take a moment's breather.

It then stood there and looked back at Britney Donovan and said uncaringly, _"I'll be back for you later."_ It walked over to the ruined club, picked it up and left the crime scene without another word.

Somewhere in the distance a bird cawed, and flew off into the burning bright sky.

* * *

**(A/N) Please do Read and Review!**


	3. Chapter Three

**A/N) Okay, everyone, here's the next chapter. I am VERY sorry for the long wait since the last chapter, but that is because almost all my time has been preoccupied with a blitz of intensive schoolwork and now revision for the exams. So anyway, here's the third instalment.**

* * *

**The Bloody Buttons**

**Chapter Three**

Twenty or so minutes after the school bell rang; Coraline was sitting back down on the bench outside the Headmistress' office, her satchel over her shoulder and a freezing cold open water bottle in hand that was sweating down past the fabric of her gloved bony fingers. She purchased it from the vending machine near the school entrance with the couple of dollars in her pocket. Her emotionless face appeared wet, as if she had been sweating or had just splashed cold water over it, and her eyes seemed to have had retreated back into her skull, making them look like they were buried within deep dark holes. A strand of her blue hair continuously fell loose, which she mechanically pushed back behind her hair. Every moment or two, she lifted the bottle to her quirky lips and attempted to quench her unslakable thirst.

The office door soon opened up and Mel walked out. Coraline did not bother to look up at her and instead focused her vision on the empty grey fall in front of her and mentally braced herself. She was expecting her mother to rip her apart and smack her around like a doll, but to Coraline's surprise, though she did not show it, Mel did nothing of the sort. Instead, she put her hand gently through her daughter's blue hair.

"Come on, let's go home." She said smoothly. This made Coraline look up at her with vague curiosity. Before she entered the office, Mel looked positively pissed off, but now she just looked tired and haggard, the defeated expression on her pained face and the thick rings under her eyes showing it.

Coraline did as she was told and followed her mother out the now empty school and to the Volkswagen that was parked a short walk from the school grounds by the pathway. They both got inside and drove off, Coraline sitting in the front next to her mother, but looking away from her. She knew she had seen the book and did not want to talk about it with her.

The ride home was awkwardly silent. Coraline rested on her side against the backrest, staring out the window and Mel keeping her attention on the road. Now and then it looked like she was about to say something, but she buttoned her lip at every last second.

It was only when the car was coming up to the Pink Palace that one of them decided to speak up.

"So am I expelled?"

"No, Coraline."

"Am I still in trouble?"

"No, Coraline. We're just going to drop the whole thing with Britney, alright?"

"Why?"

"We just are."

The car stopped by the driveway in front of their home and they both got out. It was still baking hot outside and Coraline made sure to drink the rest of her bottled water for the sole purpose of preventing her mother asking for any.

Mel locked the car door and said to Coraline tentatively as they walked up the steps and onto the porch, "I need you to go up to your room and stay there for a while. I've got to have an important discussion with Dad." She did not get a verbal response from Coraline, but she knew that her daughter would do as she was told, so there was no need for one.

* * *

Once inside, Coraline walked ahead and silently up the stairs to her bedroom, stopping only once to look down to see her mother walking through the hallway. From her height and view, she could see her scrapbook tucked away in her mother's open handbag. Sucking her teeth, Coraline continued her way upstairs.

What could she do now? She had in no way considered the possibility of her parents finding out about her secret activities. She was so confident and sure, but it would seem that lapse in judgement had resulted in disaster for her. There was nothing much she really could do, in answer to her mental question. The cat was out of the bag and Coraline would have to try and deal with how her parents were going to handle it.

* * *

Never before had Coraline felt like such a prisoner within her own home. While she waited in her bedroom like the trapped princess in a tower, her parents were downstairs, practically judging her fate by that damned book. She tried getting down on her knees two or three times and listening in on what was being said putting her ear to the floorboard, but their voices were not loud enough for her to hear anything.

After the second hour, it became clear to Coraline she was not going to be called down for one of her father's disgusting dinners. No big loss there. So she got undressed from her school uniform and into her orange and red polka dotted pyjamas and climbed into her four-poster bed. There was no homework that required her absolute immediate attention and she was not in the mood to read any of her books, so there was not much else for her to do other than sleep a bit.

Coraline would have most likely fallen asleep then and there if something had not emerged from her subconscious and struck her hard around the head like a baseball bat. Her eyes shot open wide and she sat up on the bed, clutching her blankets in the increasing darkness coming from outside and the switched off lights.

The box. The tin one she was keeping underneath her bed. Her parents already had the book. She could not allow them to find anything else that would dig her hole any deeper. It was a matter of disposing of the evidence.

She kicked back the blankets and reached her head over the side to look underneath. Narrowing her eyes to improve her vision, she soon found the greyish blue tin box hiding in the darkness and pulled it out by the handle and onto the bed.

It was of a rectangular shape and relatively light in weight and the only prominent feature about it other than the lid handle being the stainless steel lock in which the turned key remained. It looked innocent enough, but something about it gave out a somewhat sinister air.

Coraline held the box to her ear and shook it slightly so she heard faint clinking and rustling sounds from within. She set it back down on the blanket and looked around for a moment to double check if anyone else was there. She put her hands to the key in the lock and was about to open the box when she heard the growing sound of heavy footsteps climbing up the staircase.

Panicking, she placed the box back down by her head and shoved it roughly back underneath and out of side. She then tossed herself back against and pulled up her blanket and pretended she was asleep.

The bedroom door opened and Mel walked inside. Her face looked even more tired and defeated than when she came out of the office, almost like she had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Her clothes also reeked off cigarette smoke. Mel was no stranger to smoking, especially at times of stress.

"Get up, Coraline." She sighed, closing the door, switching the lights on and leaning slightly against the grey wall. "I can tell when you're pretending to sleep."

Reluctantly, Coraline opened her eyes and sat up and looked at her mother, but kept the blankets pulled up close. Mel walked over and sat down on the bed next to her.

"What is it?" The young girl asked her mother.

Mel looked at her softly and put her arm around her shoulder, saying, "Daddy and I have just been talking and…we're a little worried about you." Coraline did not say anything back, full knowing that whenever her mother used the terms 'Mommy' or 'Daddy', it could only be bad. So Mel continued reluctantly, digging her fingers a little deeper into Coraline's small shoulder. "Look, earlier today…the Headmistress found something in your bag and-"

"I know!" Coraline snapped as she crossed her arms and looked up at her. "I was listening in from behind the door, okay, Mom? I'm not stupid! I know you found the book and the other stuff and I heard what you and that guy were saying about me!"

"Coraline, we're just concerned for you."

She scoffed and hoped off the bed, glaring contemptuously over her shoulder at her mother. "Oh, and I suppose that means you as well? Pfft! That's rich!"

"Of course it means me as well! I'm your mother and-"

"Then why don't you act like it!" Coraline snapped spitefully as she spun to face her, her cheeks starting to flush.

"Watch your tone!" Mel demanded, hands on her hips and standing up from the bed. "I don't try to ignore you, Coraline; I just have a lot of work on my hands most of the time! That's not my fault!"

She did not reply and looked away again, staring at her white bedroom door with narrowed down eyes, as if she wanted to lift up her mother and toss her out with her bare hands. Mel sat back down on the bed. There was a moment silence.

Mel spoke again, looking down melancholy at her hands on her lap, getting back onto the subject, "But that's not what's important right now. I'm sorry, but we need to talk about what you've been doing."

"It's nothing."

"Yes, it is."

"They were just stupid animals!"

"Coraline, half of them were your pets!"

"I don't care! They're my pets, so I'll do whatever the fuck I want with them!"

Mel almost shouted, finding her patience being tested already by her daughter's uncooperative attitude, "Don't use that language with me, young lady, or else!"

"Or else what?" She half-laughed half-goaded and smirked haughtily at Mel. "You're gonna hit me again? Go ahead, I don't care anymore! Hit me hard enough and I'll enough evidence to show social services!"

Mel got up, furiously grabbed Coraline by her hands and pulled her roughly back onto the bed. She then stood over her and hit her across the head like she had done that morning. "Yeah, you're right, and I'll keep hitting you until I see fit! Now you are going to sit right here and tell me…" She took Coraline's cheeks in her long, spider-like hands and made sure they looked each other in the eye. "How long have you been doing this?"

"I'm not telling you-" Coraline did not get to finish before Mel tightened her grip on her face, making her cringe. "Okay, okay! Fine…I've been doing it since I was five."

"And does that include _before_ you started making the scrapbook downstairs?"

"Yes."

Her grip on Coraline's face became gentler, but only by slightly. "Why would you do stuff like this?" She asked her in a tone that was calmer than a moment before. "Hmm?"

Coraline looked lost for an answer, but she gathered up her courage and answered, "Because I like it." Her expression now hardened. "I _like_ hurting things. It's f_un!"_

Mel now let go of her face, turned away and walked away. She wrapped one arm around her stomach and pressed the tips of her fingers against the side of her head in deep frustration and thought. This was so much for her to handle.

"I haven't just done that, ya know."

She turned around. "What?"

"I've done lots of bad stuff before." Coraline said slowly and calmly and bit down on her lip, as if knowing what she was going to say next would earn her a beating. "Remember that time back in Pontiac…after school when you left the car brakes on by accident and it rolled down the street and crashed into a tree? That wasn't an accident…I switched off the brakes while you were busy smoking with the other moms."

Her mother's mouth dropped open and she looked like she was trying to say something when Coraline continued, not looking up at her.

"And you remember that time when your laptop broke down? I poured water on the keyboard. And when I was nine, Alex Carson wasn't hit by a car; I broke his leg with a thick tree branch and told him if he said a word to anyone I'd kill him."

She did not at least jolt when Mel reached out and began shaking her violently by the shoulder and did not bother looking at her distressed face. "What is **wrong** with you? Have you any idea what - God damn it, how could you - Coraline, _LOOK AT ME!" _She did soand her feelings were not stirred by seeing tears round her mother's eyes for the first time in ages.

"What?" she asked uncaringly.

"How could you do this to me?"

Now this time she did not have to force herself to laugh as it came naturally. "Oh, so you're making this about you, are you? That's just typical." She stopped laughing as a sense of hidden anger began to emerge. "All you ever think about is yourself. You don't give a fuck about me at! Well, guess what, Mom! I actually _like_ making you miserable! You're nothing but a fat, self-absorbed **bitch **and I hope you fucking die of syphilis!"

Mel now looked like she was about to volcanically irrupt. She held Coraline by the shoulder and started slapping her violently across the face, hissing as she did, "Don't!" SLAP! "You!" SLAP! "DARE talk to me like that!" SLAP! "You little _brat!"_ SLAP!

But Coraline did not care. She wanted her mother know how she really felt and the consequences were irrelevant to her. "I hate you! I fucking _hate_ you!" She screamed after getting slapped for the fourth time and tried to push her mother's fixed arm off from her shoulder.

"Well, I hate you, too!"

"You don't deserve to have children! I wish I could have your fucking tubes tied!"

She grabbed Coraline's face tight in her hand and growled threateningly, "You shut your mouth, you hear me?"

Coraline slapped her hand away. _"No!"_ She yelled, looking like she was about to violently lash out at her mother. "Fuck you! You've done nothing but neglect me! You treat your own child like a dog off the streets! No wonder Eddie's _dead!"_

Mel's fury vanished and she leaned back from Coraline's face, looking completely taken aback. She blinked her eyes a couple of times. "Wh-what…what did you say to me?"

"_**You killed my little brother!"**_

There was a loud _**crack!**_ And Coraline's head spun nearly 180 degrees. At first, she felt nothing, but within seconds, the searing hot pain surfaced on Coraline's stricken cheek and stunned, she raised the tips of her fingers to the reddening mark. She had been hit square in the face this time, not across the head. Mel stood there, her chest heaving up and down as she took in deep breaths. Her face was caught between misery and anger and there were tears forming at the rims of her eyes.

She pointed at Coraline and told her in a cracking voice, "You have no right…to say that to me, Coraline Jones. You have no idea what you're talking about, and you have no-right! Do you understand?" You could tell she had clearly had enough and was not prepared to take anymore.

Coraline had suddenly regressed to the demeanour of an intimidated five-year-old. She only kept her hand to her facial mark and nodded slowly.

"Good. Now I am going to tell you what's going to happen and you are going to listen." Mel went on stonily, having regained her composure and put her hands on her hips. "I am not going to put up with all this bullshit any longer. We…are taking you to the psychologist tomorrow at midday and we are going to talk about your problems. And no, you do not get a say in this – you're going and that's that!" She added that last part quickly to cut off Coraline off when she looked like she was about to object. Mel then pointed to the bed and instructed her, "Now get back in bed and go to sleep. And you are not coming downstairs tomorrow until I come get you."

The young girl silently did as she was told and crawled back under the covers and snuggled herself back into her bed. Mel did not say anything else but turn around to walk out the room, switching off the lights of she did and shut the door.

As she lay there alone in her bed flat on her back, Coraline stared up at the cracked ceiling in the corner in silence. In that period of time, she found a new flame of hate and anger for her mother roaring inside her. She hated her, she really fucking hated her and she had meant what she said only a couple of minutes ago. All she could think about was the extreme lengths she was prepared to go make Mel's life miserable.

But all things in good time, as they say, and Coraline sat back up in bed and swivelled over say she could place her feet dangling off the bedside. She sat there for a minute or two, hands on knees before look to the dark space beneath her bed and up at the windows of her room overlooking the vast and desolate woods surrounding their Pink Palace and near enough cutting it off from the outside world.

* * *

The witching hour had once again descended on Ashland. Not a sound could be heard, that is with the exception of faint footsteps slowly making their way through the woods.

It carried the tin box underneath one arm and a heavy black flashlight in the opposite hand, using the faint emitting light to lead the way to its wielder's destination. Finally, it reached the spot it was looking for: a ditch overflowing with thorns, creating an elaborate prickling maze. A perfect spot.

Getting down on one knee, it set the lit flashlight down and turned the key in the tin box's lock and opened up the lid. Inside was nothing too special. Two dead rats that had been stabbed with a bloodied fruit knife that was set to one side; a hand full of small shirt buttons and needles that were scattered about the box and an assortment of black needle threats were curled up in one corner. One rat had two of the small buttons sewn neatly into in its black beady eyes, but the other had only one that looked half done. They were practice for its sewing skills. It recoiled slightly, feeling repulsed by the rotting smell.

It flipped the lid shut and relocked the tin and pocketed the small key. Picking up the tin box, it leaned forward and slid it beneath the thorns, tucking it away far enough to disguise it. It stood back up and picked backed up the flashlight. It starred at the scene to ensure the box was well-hidden before turning around and walked off, using the flashlight as its guiding beacon. It headed off in one other direction.

Upon reaching the wooden area just by the school, it crept slowly around the undiscovered and bloodied corpse of Britney Donovan. It bent down on its knees and grabbed the heavy corpse under the belly…

There was a small wooden shack kept in the dark depths of those Oregon woods, built up with inferior greyed wood with on a door hanging by its hinges and a smashed window. The only previous reason for its existence was the fact that it once belonged to the owner of a small house, the dilapidated remains of which were on a small slope near said shed. From the look of the nature growing up the walls and door of the shed, man had seldom come to this cut off place.

It hauled the body over its shoulder as it trekked down the dirt pathway. The reason it took so long to get there was simply for it to avoid getting any traces of remaining blood on its clothes. Finally, it got to the door, pushed it open with a loud creek and switched on the dim overhanging light bulb inside.

With a heave, it tossed Britney's remains onto a small wheeled table and stood up straight, breathing in and out slowly for a moment. It shut the door behind it and took a good look around the interior of the godforsaken shed. There was a long desk to the left, covered with pots and piles of needles, buttons of all shapes and sizes and black thread. In the centre beneath the low light bulb was the wheeled table on which the corpse laid on top. Sat up against the right side wall were the bodies.

One of them was a nine-year-old East Asian girl, probably of Chinese or Vietnamese ethnicity and her eyes were tightly sewed turquoise buttons. Next to her was Rudy Vulmer, whose one black shining button covered his right eye and wound on his cracked forehead had dried up. The other eye was still a fading pupil and the way it the pieces of tape kept it wide open gave it the unsettling feeling of staring straight into your very soul.

It went over to the long desk, pulled out a stool chair from underneath and sat down in silence. That was what it did for the next five minutes; just sit there, with the exception of staring up at the humming light bulb, to the fresh, bleeding slab of flesh on the table, to the two old ones sitting against the wall, the open one still watching, still judging.

At last, it turned around and picked up some tape. It got up and proceeded to stick the body's eyelids open wide. It turned around again, picked up thread, needle and button and turned back over the corpse. After it threaded the needle, it bent over the open eyes and set the shiny black button on the drying eye and slowly skewered the sharp needle through the whole and into the eye surface.

It was done after five minutes and stopped to admire its work. Both buttons had been tightly sewn into Britney's brown piggy eyes, like that of a rag doll. It looked over the table to Rudy in the corner, his still one exposed eye fixated on her.

Better take care of him next. But it sat back down on its stool to take a rest and reached under the table to pull something out; a blue bin with a snapped shut lid. It opened up the lid and cold air rose from inside. The bin was filled with hundreds of crackling eyes cubes and bottles of Coca-Cola. Licking its dry lips, it pulled a sweating bottle out and opened its cap and took long drawn out sips in between pauses. The trickling chilling sensation ran down its throat and throughout its entire essence

It sat the bottle down when it was halfway done and stood back up straight from the stool. It grabbed Britney's fat lump off from the table and carried her over and set her down upright next to her cohorts. This was for only a second though as it then hauled Rudy over onto the table where Britney once laid.

Picking up another threaded needle and button, it got to work covering up that last accusing eye. It took very little time and soon looking up at it was just another pair of buttons. Finally, it returned the body back to its previous position in between the Asian girl and Britney.

It marvelled at the row of dolls on display against the wall and went to sit back down and finish off its drink. It looked over at a small analogue clock on the desk, which read two o'clock in the morning.

Coraline Jones squinted her eyes at the faint light hanging above her. It flickered on and off like a bug zapper. She set the bottle down, snapped the lid of the box shut and got back up in preparation to leave.

"I'll be back to take care of you all later."

She turned the lights off on her way out, leaving everyone and everything back in abysmal darkness.


End file.
